The United Nations' (UN) World Day of Social Justice will be observed on Saturday (tomorrow) to encourage people to look at how social justice affects poverty eradication. It also focuses on the goal of achieving full employment and support for social integration.
Many organisations, including the UN and the International Labour Office, make statements on the importance of social justice for people. Many organisations also present plans for greater social justice by tackling poverty, social and economic exclusion and unemployment.
Schools, colleges and universities may prepare special activities for the day or plan a week of events around a theme related to poverty, social and economic exclusion or unemployment. Different media, including radio and television stations, newspapers and Internet sites, may give attention to the issues around the World Day of Social Justice.
It is hoped that particular coverage is given to the links between the illicit trade in diamonds and armed conflicts, particularly in Africa, and the importance of the International Criminal Court. This is an independent court that conducts trials of people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The World Summit for Social Development was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1995 and resulted in the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action. At this summit, more than 100 political leaders pledged to make the conquest of poverty and full employment, as well as stable, safe and just societies, their overriding objectives. They also agreed on the need to put people at the centre of development plans.
Nearly 10 years later, the UN's member states reviewed the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action when they gathered at a session of the Commission for Social Development in New York in February 2005. They also agreed to commit to advance social development.
On November 26, 2007, the UN General Assembly named February 20 as the annual World Day of Social Justice. The day was scheduled to be first observed in 2009. The year's theme "Social Justice and a Decent Life for All" underscores the importance of social justice as an ethical imperative that should guide all the works of nations in attaining a decent life for all citizens.
Social justice has been at the centre of the collective safety expansion of communities for more than a century. Social security systems secure people against the dangers of life. Social justice distinguishes that nations and peoples must be supported by a structure with a high regard for human rights and the essential freedoms and the right to defend it for all.
Global stability and prosperity depend on ensuring that people enjoy up to standard levels of well being and equality of opportunity. This includes promoting gender equality or the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants and by removing barriers that people face because of age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, or disability.
As recognised by the World Summit for Social Development, social development focuses among others, on social justice and unity, features that are essential morals of any society, and vital to the formation of structures that encourage fairness and impartiality and a chance for all to live in peaceful and prosperous co-existence.